80 million viewers watched the first 18 matches of Kabaddi World Cup

According to BARC data, the event saw viewership from urban as well as rural viewers across India on both standard and high definition channelsGaurav Laghate | ET Bureau | Updated: October 22, 2016, 09:41 IST

Kabaddi is no longer a small town sport. The ongoing 2016 Kabaddi World Cup achieved historic viewership with more than 80 million viewers watching the first 18 matches on TV in the first week. According to BARC data, the event saw viewership from urban as well as rural viewers across India on both standard and high definition channels.“Kabaddi has been a phenomenal success for us over the past two years. The sport has gone from strength to strength in terms of fan following and viewership through the 4 seasons of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League," Nitin Kukreja, CEO, Star Sports told ET.

And it was not just India matches which attracted viewers across Star Sports 2, 3, HD2 and HD3 channels.In fact, Star India said the highest rated non-India game (Poland Vs Kenya) got a viewership of 6.1 million average impressions -close to double the viewership of an average Pro Kabaddi League match.

In contrast to cricket, where Indians' affinity to watch a match depends directly on whether India is playing, Kabaddi viewers remained hooked-on to matches even when Indian men were not playing. Star said viewership ratio for non-India games to India games was much better at 34%, compared to other marquee events like the T20 Cricket World Cup, where the ratio was just 26%.

“Now, the horizons have expanded further with the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup creating a platform for global participation and fan following," said Kukreja.

The broadcaster also shared that it has seen a strong audience pull in the first 18 matches, which had just 3 India matches. There was a 3-times increase in viewership for the Kabaddi World Cup versus the latest season of the Pro Kabaddi League.

On social media, the event has seen close to 30,000 authors and more than 110,000 mentions so far. Star Sports had got 7 sponsors -Patanjali, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Syska LED, NSDC, Indo-Nissin and Volini for the tournament.